Are You Considering Taking a Tour in Central Asia? I Am Too… and Here’s Why.
Over the years, I have gotten so many emails about traveling around Central Asia and how to do it comfortably. As someone who gets into an Almaty comfort zone and often doesn’t leave the city, I realized that I didn’t have the answer to this. After all, I avoided moving about the region because I dreaded the modes of transportation.
Marshrutkas + my claustrophobia = nope.
I also have anxiety, so I tend to seek things that make me comfortable, like watching a movie 27 times. In this case, it was hanging out in cities and places in the region I knew well.
As I have gotten older, I have changed, and my audience has also changed. While I never traveled on a strict budget, my travel style definitely shifted more from somewhat budgetish (mostly because I was traveling for months at a time) to mid-range and boutique. And I am definitely more comfortable writing for this audience than I ever was for backpackers (because hey, I love a bougie coffee shop).
And in a region that is dominated by backpackers from my part of the world, I knew I had more flexibility with how I traveled, including the possibility of taking a tour in Central Asia or other parts of the world… something I never really considered in the past (and I’ve been frequenting this region for 13 years).
I take tours all the time when I travel, but they are almost always day tours that I want to cover on this blog to enhance someone else’s trip. But a multi-day tour? It never crossed my mind until earlier this year. And magically, I now have two booked for this spring!
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the following:
Why I Signed Up for These Multi-Day Tours in Central Asia
Honestly, I suck at planning. I’m an ideas person… so I can come up with a destination, have someone else plan it, and then travel there (gosh, this makes me look pretty useless, but it’s the truth).
The first tour I am doing is at the end of March and is only a short one with no border crossings, and in a country I know extremely well. I will cover that on the blog when it is over and discuss it more then.
And the second tour is one of the multi-day tours that takes care of EVERYTHING. Visas, LOIs, transportation, boutique accommodation, and more. I have never done anything like this, but I am so excited to just show up with my camera.
The reason I signed up for the second one was that it takes me to a country that requires a lot of planning on my end. And secondly, it is my friend’s company, Apricot Adventures, that is running the tour. More about that below.
I will share the tour details and recap once I am back with a full post, but I have never been this excited about a trip before!
Who Is Apricot Adventures?
A decade ago, I never saw many boutique tour companies in Central Asia. Influencer-led tours and companies were starting to pop up, but there was very little out there that catered to the mid-range, boutique traveler who wasn’t retired. Someone who wanted comfort and ease while still seeing places that are deemed ‘off-the-path’.
And the larger tour companies always seemed too impersonal and ‘surface level’, while the recognized players in the game were often headquartered somewhere else. I think it was a mix of these factors that left the mid-range tourism market underserved for years in the region.
When I heard that my friend Aigul was starting a tour company with her sisters Aim and Bermet, I was elated. Aigul Kubatbekova has been a familiar name in Central Asian tourism, particularly in her home country of Kyrgyzstan, for over a decade. And her family’s Apple Hostel has hosted thousands of travelers to Bishkek, Cholpon-ata, and Osh over the years. Apricot Adventures was the answer to the gap in this burgeoning demographic.
And as someone who has lived in and spent tons of time in the region, I can assure you that there is no better way to see Central Asia than with locals who really know their backyard. And bonus points if they are a family-owned business!
Apricot Adventures can help with planning the entire tour, so long as you can find your way to the starting point! It will also help you make the most of your time visiting the country/countries on your itinerary, which is essential if you’re dealing with limited vacation days.
Below, I am covering some of the tour planning essentials (and beyond) that Apricot Adventures helps with if you sign up for one of their Central Asia adventures. I will report back after my multi-day tour with Apricot to recap my experience with them, but for now, I wanted to share my reasoning for signing up for a tour in the first place.
Reasons To Take a Tour in Central Asia
1. Securing Tickets in Advance
One thing I have always had issues with in Central Asia is securing my plane and train tickets in advance. Sure, you can book them like a month or two out, but some of the regional airlines and trains don’t allow pre-booking more than a month or two in advance. My anxiety could neverrrrr. And the trains in Uzbekistan often fill up instantly once the tickets become available.
But guess who can book beyond the released schedule? Locals and tour companies.
2. Border Crossings Become Stress-Less
Border crossings in Central Asia can be chaotic and lack organization. A lot of people are crossing the border for work and trade, so queues are rarely empty. I have been in shoving matches at the Kazakh/Kyrgyz border (no joke), and anytime I have been able to cross with a local, I have been more than thankful for the experience.
With a tour company like Apricot Adventures, everything is set up. The border will be an easier process as you’ll be in a group, the transportation will be sorted so you don’t have to play hide-and-seek with your marshrutka or taxi, and you’ll have expectations laid out in advance. Not to mention, if you need visas, all will be sorted ahead of time.
3. Comfortable Accommodation in the Region
Accommodation options have increased throughout Central Asia over the years, but it can still be difficult to determine whether a place is good or not before arrival (I have had more bad experiences with places than good, fyi).
While things are improving, it is definitely much easier to let someone else do the trial-and-error before you use your money to do so. I think this is where a tour company gives a bonus to those visiting Central Asia.
Apricot Adventures, for example, uses only partners it has personally tested and built a good relationship with. And they use local, boutique hotels, which provide a more intimate experience than an international chain hotel.
4. Transportation Is Arranged… and Comfortable!
After many years of being sardined into a marshrutka, I will always opt for tours when it comes to transportation… whether it be a multi-day tour or just a private transfer from Point A to Point B.
As I mentioned above, transportation can sell out quickly in Central Asia, and tickets often don’t go on sale for the public until somewhat at the last minute.
But if you opt for a tour, the dirty work is done for you in terms of booking… and they will make sure the transportation is comfortable and spacious enough that you don’t feel like you’re sandwiched between too many other people.
A lot of the roads in Central Asia can be unforgiving, so you will want the most comfortable transportation possible to ensure an enjoyable experience getting around the region.
5. Visas and Letters of Invitation = Sorted
I am grateful that the region has opened up over the years and I have access to most countries in Central Asia without the visas and LOIs I once needed (shoutout to Kyrgyzstan for never requiring this from me!). But that is not the case for everyone.
If you need a visa or LOI for any of the Central Asian countries on your itinerary, a tour company will handle it and do the bureaucratic stuff for you.
6. Local Insight Is Priceless
The biggest plus of booking a tour of Central Asia with a local company like Apricot Adventures is that you will get the richest experience possible in the region. You’ll have local guides in each place and another guide with you the entire time. There will be no language barriers, and you will leave your trip with knowledge, new skills, and a lot of photos.
Mainstream tour companies that are not from Central Asia will often cater to larger groups and provide a more surface-level experience, giving the highlights of a destination. A boutique tour company will allow you to see the culture and lifestyle through a magnifying glass, allowing you to truly understand the place you’re visiting.
7. You Can See Several Places on One Trip
Another perk of signing up for a multi-day tour is that you can see several places on one trip without having to figure out transport yourself (which can be daunting to a first-timer in the region).
Aigul, Aim, and Bermet at Apricot Adventures have several curated itineraries that will give you a choice of where to start. Typically, if someone is visiting the region for the first time, I give them a few places that are a good introduction to the region. But with an organized tour, you can opt for whatever is of interest to you because a local is taking care of the logistics.
So, Where Is Apricot Adventures Going in 2026?
Here is the 2026 Apricot Adventures tour schedule:
- May 25 to June 8: Nomads of the High Road: A Silk Road Odyssey (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)
- June 29 to July 12: Spirit of the Tian Shan: A Wellness & Wilderness Expedition (Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan)
- July 20 to August 2: Kyrgyzstan Unhurried: A Sanctuary in the Sky (Kyrgyzstan)
- August 30 to September 13: The Great Gathering: World Nomad Games 2026 (Kyrgyzstan)
- September 23 to October 7: Empires of Sand & Silk: Architects of the East (Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan)
These tours will have local experts and regional guides throughout and will be a bit slower-paced and more experiential. They will include a few active adventures like horseback riding and hiking (you can let them know if this is not of interest to you), and you will try some of the tastiest food in Central Asia along the way.
All accommodation is boutique and locally-owned, while the transportation will be spacious and in comfortable vehicles. You can see more on their website here.
I am really excited to transition into a travel era where tours are something I consider when visiting a new destination. Or even an old one (I am revisiting a few places on one of my upcoming tours). And I will fill you in on how it goes here on the blog in the future with recaps of the tours I take and how I felt about them after.
Let me know if you have any questions or are considering taking a tour of Central Asia – I would love to help you pick the right one!
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